It was nearly sundown in Staybrook when the exhausted Ben Tennyson walked towards the Grant Mansion. It's been a long day at work. So, Ben was looking forward to a change of scenery at the one place no villains, fans, or paparazzi would find him.

As Ben arrived at the wrought iron gates, he saw two teenage boys bursting through the gates with horrified faces, running for dear life. They didn't even notice the world famous Ben Tennyson as they ran right past him.

But Ben didn't mind. He knew those were just nosy kids who thought it would be cool to explore the most haunted house in town. Sasha Jocklin, Ben's surrogate big sister and witch in training, must have scared them off. Her older sister Rachel and the rest of her surrogate alien family were away on missions. So, someone had to watch the house.

The teen hero shook his head. "Those poor saps, snooping around and getting scared half to death like that." Ben casually strolled up the hill to the mansion as his stomach began to growl. "Man, I am starving! I hope Sasha made something good for dinner tonight!"

Ben arrived at the front door and gave it a few knocks. "Hello? Sasha!"

The door slowly creaked open. By itself.

"Uh, hello?" Ben walked inside. But nobody was around.

Just then, a wonderful smell caught Ben's attention. Ben's stomach growled. "Mmmm! That smells like Sasha's chicken soup!" Ben followed his nose to the kitchen and saw a steaming bowl of something tasty on the table that was ready to eat. Ben quickly took a seat and grabbed the spoon. But instead of soup, he pulled out a spoonful of spider webs! He looked into the bowl and saw a big, black spider in it.

Ben screamed as he fell out of his chair and backed away. A ghoulish cackle filled the room.

"Alright! Who's there?!" Ben activated the Omnitrix and just as he was about to press it down to transform, a cold hand grabbed his raised arm. He turned and saw that the cold hand was invisible!

"LET ME GO!" Ben yelled. He felt his other arm pulled up by another invisible hand! And just when Ben was about to scream,

"Ahahahahahahahahahaha!" Ben started laughing. He felt invisible hands tickle his armpits. The hero was completely helpless as his captors became visible. It was the Phantom and his daughter, Phanty!

"Coochy, coochy, boooo, Ben Tennyson!" Phantom said in his spooky voice.

"We're here to haunt yooooouuu!" Phanty wailed.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! MERCY! MERCY! NO MORE!" Ben pleaded.

Thankfully, Phanty and her father were friendly ghosts who knew when to quit tickling. They stopped and released Ben, who collapsed on the floor.

"Good to see you again, Ben, my boy!" Phantom said.

Phanty cackled her trademark laugh. "I'll say!"

"W-What are you guys doing here?!" Ben said, regaining his strength.

"Ben?" Sasha's voice called out. "Is that you?"

"Sshhhh!" Phantom and Phanty shushed Ben before disappearing. Once they did, Sasha walked into the kitchen.

"Oh! Hey, Ben!" Sasha smiled. "When did you get-" Suddenly, Phanty appeared behind Sasha and passed right through her chest! She gasped as her body felt deathly cold. The girl shivered as she rubbed her goose-bumpy arms.

Phanty laughed. "How was my ghostly chill, Sasha?"

"V-V-Very c-chilly!" Sasha gave the ghost a shaky thumbs up.

"AAHHH!" Ben yelped when Phantom went through him from behind. His whole body went cold as chills raced down his spine.

Phantom smiled. "Didn't want you to feel left out, my boy. I already practiced my chill on Sasha."

"W-W-What's g-g-g-going on here?!" Ben said through his chattering teeth.

"No need to worry, Ben. The Phantoms are just practicing their haunting skills for Halloween." Sasha said. She started floating off the floor thanks to Phantom's levitation. "It's just around the corner, y'know!"

"Oh, yes. And we love to give the Jocklin girls a friendly haunting!" Phantom explained. "It's too bad Rachel isn't here. But we can have just as much fun with Sasha." He playfully floated and flipped Sasha in the air. Sasha laughed, much to Ben's confusion.

"You're actually enjoying this, Sasha?!" Ben asked, bewildered.

"Sure, Ben. The ghosts mean well when they haunt us." Sasha said. Phantom carefully put Sasha down. "I'm sure you'll have fun too!"

"No way! I came here to relax! Not be haunted!" Ben tried to run but Phanty grabbed Ben's arms and lifted him off the floor.

"Aw, don't leave, Ben! We just want to play!" said Phanty. "We never have any fun with humans!"

Phantom appeared in front of Ben. "She's right, my boy. We're so used to scaring humans, making them scream and fear us. It comes with the job. But with the Jocklin sisters at the Grant Mansion, we can have fun, be ourselves, practice our scare tactics..." He grinned. "and sometimes, have a good laugh!"

Ben frowned. "There's nothing to laugh about-" Ben was cut off when Phantom started tickling Ben's sides. "Ahahahahahahahahahahaha! Quit it!"

Sasha giggled. "Sounds like you're laughing right now!"

Phantom seized tickling the teen hero. "Just relax, Ben. We won't be any trouble. In fact, how'd you like to take a little ride with us to the cemetery? The ghosts there are throwing a party!"

Ben shook his head. "Forget it! And I don't care how much you tickle torture me!"

Phantom looked sad, as did Phanty as she lowered Ben to the floor and released him.

"Oh, don't worry, guys. Ben's just hangry, that's all." Sasha said to her ghost friends. "Come on, Ben. It'll be fun. There's gonna be a potluck there!"

Ben perked up. "A potluck?"

"Yeah!" Phanty giggled. "There's gonna be chicken fried vulture, owl soup, braised dragon ribs, octopus salad, blood sausage with extra blood-"

Ben gagged. "No stinkin' way!"

"But Ben-"

"NO! Not for all the gold in Fort Knox am I going! If I want to be poisoned on an empty stomach, I can just call my grandpa! I'm out of here!" He turned and left in a huff. "Stupid, spooky junk and goofball ghosts..." he muttered under his breath. But his friends heard his muttering.

Sasha sighed and saw the saddened looks on her friends' see-through faces.

"I don't think Ben likes us anymore..." Phanty said in an uncharacteristically depressed voice.

Phantom hugged his daughter. "Don't worry, Phantasma. Ben just needs some time to himself." He gave her forehead a kiss. "We'll just go to the party ourselves."

"Yeah, besides, more chicken fried vulture for us!" Sasha licked her lips. "Let's get everything set up!" She and her ghost friends packed everything and headed for the cemetery.


A few hours had past and Ben was relaxing in his bedroom. He made himself a couple of peanut butter sandwiches and a glass of milk.

The hero laid on his bed and exhaled a content sigh. "Ah, this is more like it. No tickle pranks, no crazy ghosts, and no well-meaning but too go-with-the-flow witches." He looked at the clock and it was 6:30 p.m. "Hmm...what to do..."

Ben decided to watch T.V. in the living room. He skimmed through the channels and found nothing to watch. Sighing, he turned off the television. Ben couldn't help but think back to the way he treated Sasha and the Phantom family. "Oh, man. I was such a jerk to those guys." He lifted himself off the couch. "I gotta get to that graveyard and apologize."

Putting on his hoodie, Ben decided to visit Bellwood. He walked for a while down the sidewalk, admiring the evening sky when a yellow convertible pulled up beside Ben. Driving it was a teenage boy with spiked, dirty blonde hair and a high school varsity jacket. His passengers were his girlfriend and two pimple faced boys also wearing varsity jackets.

"Hey! Are you Ben Tennyson?" the teen driver asked.

Ben smiled. "Sure am! Want my autograph?"

The boy smiled. "No!" He and his gang laughed. Ben scowled and was going to walk away until the car followed him.

"Hey! Come on, Tennyson! Aren't you gonna turn into something and kill us?" the dirty blonde taunted.

His girlfriend stood up and threw a handful of change at Ben. Coins fell onto him like painful hail. "Here, Tennyson! Go buy yourself some big boy clothes!" They all laughed at Ben, who was getting more and more angry. But he just kept walking.

BAM!

Ben jumped and spun around to see that the teens' car had blown a tire.

BAM! BAM! BAM!

The rest of the tires had blown out. The windshield suddenly exploded in a burst of shards. The teens screamed in startled confusion.

"MY CAR!" The dirty blonde boy shrilled, throwing his hands on his head. He glared at Ben. "YOU!" He and his gang jumped out of the car and surrounded Ben.

"You wrecked my car!" snarled the dirty blonde.

Ben raised his hands in defense. "I didn't do anything!" But the other teen boys grabbed his hands to restrain him.

"Hold him still for me!" The dirty blonde pulled out a knife. Ben gasped in horror.

"Yeah! Get him, Jake! Get him!" yelled the girlfriend.

Jake was about to stab Ben until he stiffened, almost like he was turned to stone. Jake slowly unfroze and threw the knife across the street. Then Jake charged at his girlfriend and sucker punched her across the face, knocking her out cold. Ben and the other bullies watched in horror as Jake sat on top the girl and repeatedly punched the heck out of her face.

Without saying a word, the bullies freed Ben and ran away. Ben looked back at Jake, who seized his assault. His girlfriend's face was a bruised, bloody mess.

Footsteps were heard and Ben turned to see a woman in a black witch's hat with a matching dress and pointed shoes. Ben could make out her lime green skin as she curved a wicked smile.

"Oww!" The witch stumbled a little. She looked at her feet. "These shoes are murder on your feet!"

Ben knew that voice. "SASHA?!"

The witch looked up and gave a friendly smile. "Hey, Ben." she waved. But Sasha didn't look like her usual self. Her skin was green, her hair was purple and oily, her face had a couple of ugly warts, and her nose was hooked and pointing upward!

"Whoa..." Ben couldn't believe his eyes. "I-Is that you?! I thought you got over that whole 'ugly witch' phase!"

Sasha nodded. "Well, yeah, I am. But I have to disguise myself when I'm out witching. You know my sis and I are very private about our witchcraft hobby."

Ben turned to Jake, who smiled and waved. "Ben! It's me, my boy!"

My boy? Then it dawned on Ben. "Phantom?!"

"At your service." The phantom bowed in the human's body. He noticed the bruises on his host's hands. "Perhaps we should call the police now. I'm already uncomfortable in this human's skin."


After making an anonymous phone call, the confused and hysterical Jake was arrested and his girlfriend was sent to the hospital. Once the bully was hauled away, Phantom, Sasha, and Ben returned to the graveyard party. Ben was amazed to see such so many ghosts and monsters in one place.

At one of the picnic tables, Ben sat across from Sasha and Phanty as Phantom sat next to Ben. "Well, that takes care of that teenage ruffian." Phantom said. "It felt strange having hormones again."

"Thanks for your help, Phantom." Ben said with a grateful smile. "You too, Sasha. I can't believe you wrecked that car with just a flick of your finger!"

"And now you know why I love being a witch." Sasha mentioned. "I get to help people and face my fears of the supernatural at the same time! It's a win-win."

"But how did you guys know that I was in trouble?" asked Ben.

"We spirits can sense negative enegy, my boy." said Phantom. "And negative energy makes us spirits..." He narrowed his eyes. "testy. And when those brats' toxic energy combined with the malice they were growing inside of you, it was too much for me to bare! So, Sasha and I had o help you!"

"Luckily for you, we were out to pick up some grape soda when those toads were bullying you." Sasha said.

"Speaking of toads and grape soda, let's eat!" Phanty said.

Sasha waved her hands at the buffet table. A plate of what looked like fried chicken floated to the friends' picnic table. The fumes coming from the food made Ben's mouth water. "That smells delicious!"

"Yeah! Fried vulture!" Phanty licked her lips.

Ben gulped. This was vulture?! "Uh, nevermind..."

"Come on, Ben. Try it!" Sasha got up and made a plate for Ben and brought it to him. "If it's safe for me to eat, it's safe for you."

Hearing this, Ben started to consider it. "I...guess I could try a little...but I don't know."

Sasha grinned. "Come on, Ben. Don't make me get all witchy on you." she said jokingly.

The ghosts snickered, confusing Ben.

Sasha shrugged. "Alright, so be it." She hunched over and cackled like a real wicked witch. "Hello, my pretty." Sasha spoke in a shrill, witchy voice. "Don't you look sweet?" She patted Ben's head and pinched his cheek as the ghosts started to laugh. "Have some fried vulture." She picked up Ben's arm. "I want some meat on these bones."

The ghosts and all the other graveyard ghouls howled with laughter.

"That's a good one, Sasha!" laughed a skeleton.

"She is hilarious!" a zombie said to his wife.

Ben looked at Sasha, who gave him a wink. Ben still didn't get it. But he did know that these monsters weren't laughing at him, but at Sasha's corny witch act. Shrugging, he took a drumstick and took a bite.

"MMMM! This is delicious!" Ben said with a mouthful of crisp, juicy vulture.

"Attaboy, Ben!" said Phantom. He and the others ate the rest of their food.

"So, what was all that about, Sasha?" asked Ben.

"Yeah, don't ask me why, but ghosts and monsters think it's hilarious seeing a real witch act like those Hollywood stereotype witches that humans made up." Sasha explained.

Ben shrugged. "Works for me." He paused his eating. "Sorry I was such a jerk. I shouldn't have snapped at you guys."

"It's okay, Ben. We know you work very hard and need some rest and peace." Phantom said in an understanding voice. He put a hand on the boy's shoulder. "Just try to keep your nasty spirits in check."

"You go it." Ben smiled. "Can you pass the funeral potatoes?"

Phantom smiled and used his powers to levitate the dish of funeral potatoes to Ben. He hero smiled and lifed his cup of grape soda. "Here's to the best ghouls a guy could ever have."

Sasha, Phantom, and Phanty happily raised their sodas and shared a toast. "Cheers!"